Flat sheets of paper have been used for a long time in many ways. As a desire for unique uses emerged, sheets of paper were glued together to create 3 dimensional effects. Originally this was done by hand, some of the initial uses were for displays, books and greeting cards. As the popularity developed, these items became known as pop-ups. This was believed to be because the item consisted of two or more sheets glued together and then further glued into front and back sheets, often the front and back sheets were one sheet that was folded and called a cover. By opening the cover, the sheets glued inside would surprisingly erect, popping up into three-dimension. Thus the cover, and the geometrically positioned sheets glued inside, became known as “a pop-up.”
Initially, the construction of pop-ups was done by hand. This gradually changed, becoming a combination of hand and machine assembly, with the pop-up pieces being glued together and then to each panel of the cover containing them. Further development enabled complete assembly by machine. Although this was more cost effective, it limited the intricacy of the designs of the die-cut pop-up elements that might be glued to the cover sheets. Certain-die cut designs have a tendency to break when conveyed at high speed. Also the exposed adhesive, inherent on such pop-up elements, had to be quickly covered by the front and back covers so as not to come into contact with press parts on inline web presses. Generally cover sheets were necessary to prevent the adhesive from erroneously offsetting or bonding to the wrong substrate. Even with the limitations, this advancement makes it currently feasible to place such covered pop-up constructions into magazines as a separate add-on insert. Because of the number of components of the pop-up, i.e., a front and back cover plus one or more pop-up sheets glued to the covers, it has not been feasible to print the present style pop-up jointly with magazines at the high speed at which magazines are produced. As a resulted, pre-printed and pre-assembled pop-ups were required that might then be added during the final binding of the magazines, as binding speeds were more compatible to such additions.
Because of the foregoing, although the pop-up in magazines has been significant, sales have been mostly limited to users with large advertising budgets. One reason for this is because, instead of paying “Run of Publication” single page advertising rates, the advertising rates charged for a separate insert include charges for the 4-page cover as well as the pop-up therewithin because they interrelate. This is significantly more than the charge for a one-page or a two-page spread of “Run of Publication.” In addition, further costs are added to prepare the correct binding means to enable the interrelated 4-page cover pop-up insert to be bound into the magazine or added to a mailer, e.g. a bindery “hanger” for saddle-stitch binding, or a binding “strip” for perfect binding. FIGS. 23 and 24 illustrate ways that an interrelated 4-page cover and pop-up element have been previously inserted into magazines prior to the present invention. FIG. 23 illustrates a 4-page cover having a binding strip S attached to the outer surface of one page of the signature for insertion into a perfect-bound magazine. FIG. 24 illustrates an interrelated 4-page cover and pop-up insert (element) with a binding hangar H attached to the outer surface of one page of the cover to facilitate insertion into a saddle-stitched magazine. Also, insertion into a magazine using such a concept was limited to specific positions.
Present-day magazine circulation in the U.S. reaches extremely large audiences and, as a result, has become a popular way to advertise. However, as magazine advertising has proliferated, so many ads are carried in a single magazine volume that, after a while, the reader sees all of them as blending into one another. Accordingly, advertisers have striven to incorporate some distinctiveness into their magazine advertising and have occasionally attached coupons or return mail cards to a page of their advertising. However, such efforts have met with varying success as such cards and coupons lie flat against the sheet itself and frequently go unnoticed by the reader. As the demand for cost effectiveness has become greater, it is necessary to have a design concept constructed so that it is capable of being conveyed at high speeds in a continuous configuration. It should have proper paper tensile strength and die-cutting with adhesive positioning that will only bond with the acceptable areas of the substrate. It should not sever due to weakness caused by improperly designed die-cutting. Accordingly, new ideas in magazine advertising continue to be sought.